All Dolled Up
by WafflesnRizzles
Summary: "It's not the just the demons anymore, B. Now we gotta fight the humans, too." The Scoobies find Faith in a very different place than jail: the L.A. Dollhouse. Of course, eventual Fuffy.
1. Chapter 1

**I've been wanting to do a Dollhouse/Buffy crossover ever since I stumbled upon the genius that is Dollhouse. I'll try my best to finish this one, guys. It's pretty complicated, so hopefully I won't intimidate myself with its complexity. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy. Do review or PM me if you have any suggestions or questions—I live for fanfic notifications. It's sort of sad. **

** I of course do not own either BTVS or Dollhouse.**

* * *

**Present Day**

"It's not the just the demons anymore, B. Now we gotta fight the humans, too," Echo said. She looked at Buffy, who was standing numbly next to the chair. Her slight shoulders were slumped so that I could see the deep hollows above her clavicles. Her face was pained, wan, tired. All the fight she had just exhibited…gone.

"You called me B," she said quietly. The blonde looked searchingly into the eyes of the girl in front of her, trying to find the Faith she knew. The brunette's eyes lit up; a small smirk appeared on her face.

_Her_.

Who was she, anyhow? Buffy couldn't even bring herself to name the girl in front of her. Buffy's hands longed to touch that face. The soft curve of her cheek, the deep red, rounded lips under her expert fingers—they twitched slightly in anticipation. But was it Faith or was it Echo? Was it any of the other personalities imprinted on her? How could she be sure?

That smirk, though. It wasn't anything she had seen in Echo before: Eleanor Penn, Jenny, Taffy, Rebecca, the whole rest of the crew. That smirk was strictly Faith. It was only the left side of her mouth that turned up and was always accompanied by a raised right eyebrow. It was confident, lazy and, in true Faith style, slightly dripping with innuendo.

And then there was that buzzing feeling that always sparked around Faith. It had been so fuzzy, so weak before. Now it was strong—maybe stronger than ever. It jumped under her skin like a thousand live wires, ready to electrocute. Her fingers reached out tentatively, shyly, and gently alighted upon the soft flesh of _her_ arm. They ghosted their way up to the shoulder, around the neck and across the jawbone, where they settled comfortably. The head leaned in, eyes closed, relishing the contact. The wires jumped underneath their skin, sending pleasurable jolts of electricity down arms and up legs.

She heard the brunette's breath hitch slightly. An unexpected sound coming out of the swaggering girl, but certainly not an unpleasant one.

Buffy's head moved closer as her hand pulled the other head to meet hers. Lips inches apart she whispered, "Who are you?" Her voice frayed around the edges, dying as it was sliced with pain. She couldn't bear to see Faith—even just her body—walk around anymore without the memories and feelings they had once shared.

"I'm them…and me, B. You gotta know that. I'm Echo now, but Faith's in here, too. This can be a new start for you and me, huh?" Echo got up out of the chair, spinning around in a circle screaming, "I'M BACK, BABY!" and punching the air before grabbing Buffy's hand and walking through the door.

"We take down a giant corporation by day, and fuck like cute little bunnies at night," she said nonchalantly to the blonde, who stopped dead in her tracks.

Grabbing Buffy by the collar of her shirt, she threw her against the wall. Her body was pressed up Buffy's slighter one, her ample cleavage pressing against the top of Buffy's chest. She raised an eyebrow, bit her lip and kissed Buffy viciously. Her hands grabbed the blonde's wrists and threw them against the wall while their mouths hungrily feasted. Electricity jumped under their skin, fusing them together in white hot heat.

"Whoa, whoa whoa. Girls, girls!" a voice shouted, interrupting them. Buffy opened her eyes to find Topher standing a few of feet away from Echo. Blood ran from his split lip and his plaid shirt was torn at the arm. "We have company."

The door shattered open with the kick of a thick boot. Two men armed with machine guns marched in and pointed the monstrosities at the two girls. "Hands up. You're coming with us. And no funny business or _he_ gets it," one man gestured his gun at Topher, who was cowering, wide-eyed against his gumball machine. Echo caught his eye and motioned with hers for him to create a distraction. He simpered, panicked, but managed to stick his hand up the gumball machine to rip off the flap that stopped the gum from falling out.

With hard clacks, dozens of gumballs poured out of the machine and rolled onto the floor, causing the men to lose their balances. Echo and Buffy capitalized on this comical opportunity. It only took a couple of seconds for Echo to land a roundhouse kick to the side of his face, punch his jaw, pull his hands behind his back and grab his weapon. Buffy found herself holding a gun as well and did not seem all too happy about it.

"Faith…I mean, Echo. I don't know what to do with this thing," she held it limply as if afraid to touch it. Echo sighed, whacked the man Buffy was holding upside the head with her gun, smirking as he fell, out cold, to the floor.

"You are just amazing," Buffy said, in awe of the enhanced Faith. "I'll never get tired of that."

"She can shoot a damned crossbow and can't shoot a gun," Echo muttered, amused, to herself. "C'mere."

Echo pulled Buffy into an embrace from behind, moulding herself to the smaller slayer. Her heart beat faster at the contact, but she ignored it for the time being.

"Take the safety off like so…hold it like this…put your finger here…aim…breathe…shoot." Her hands lingered around Buffy's waist; her lips ghosted the blonde's neck.

"Oh, look. They sent you a practice target," Echo said as another soldier came barging in. Echo felt Buffy stiffen in panic. "It's okay, B. You've got this. I'm right here." She watched as Buffy's fingers lightly depressed the trigger, causing a bullet to lodge itself in the unfortunate soldier's arm.

"FUCK DAMN, bitch!" he roared, grabbing at the wound. He pointed his gun at Buffy. "They said we needed that one alive, but they said you were to be shot on sight." Before he had even depressed the trigger, Buffy and Faith each dropped to the floor and rolled separate ways, almost exactly in sync. And before the bullet had lodged itself in the wall that had, a second ago, been shielded by Buffy's head, Echo had disarmed him and Buffy had knocked him out cold.

Flashing Buffy a dazzling smile, Echo raised her hand for a high-five. "The Chosen Two are back, baby!"

* * *

**Three Weeks Prior **

"It's not another apocalypse, is it?" Anya asked disinterestedly, sighing happily as she counted money from the Magicbox cash register. It was another late-night Scooby meeting (one of her least favorite things), so she thought she would temper the ennui by doing one of her favorite things (handling money).

"No. Not another _a_pocalypse, exactly. It's just a certain big bad trying to resurrect himself. So sort of a _b_pocalypse if you ask me," Willow explained, giggling quietly at her own joke.

Anya blinked a few times and went back to her money-counting.

"He's not drinking unicorn blood or stealing any magic stones, is he?" Dawn asked warily.

"Oh no. He-who-must-not-be-named is going the old-fashioned route: dark magic."

"So, like, restricted section stuff?"

"Yeah. But I've got a hall pass," Willow said, flashing her token shy but slightly sly grin. She opened her backpack and pulled out a very old book. The faded red cover had the remnants of a gold ink title in some strange language.

Giles looked at it greedily, excitedly. "Where did you discover that gem?" he asked, leaning over Willow's shoulder and poring over the open pages.

"I'm in contact with a few covens. We have a book loaner—"

"Do you think you could get me _Eye of the Demon_? I've been wanting to get my hands on that for years!"

"Giles. Focus. We have a big bad to stop," Buffy chastised, looking up from her nails. Giles closed his mouth and motioned for Willow to turn the page. Buffy returned to looking at her nails.

"Cut the head off the snake, to darkness it falls. Only with blood of the traitor will it rise again."

They had caught wind of a plan to resurrect the Mayor and had spent the last three nights doing what the Scooby Gang did best: research. Willow decided to pull some strings with some of the covens she kept in contact with and had been sent the book of dark magic she now held.

The words settled heavily for a few minutes on the silent group. Xander looked at Giles, "Why would all the demons be leaving Sunnydale if they're after Buffy?"

"It's because they're not after me. They're after Faith."

"But isn't the jail that way?" Xander motioned in a general direction behind him. "I mean, the jail is practically in Utah."

"I think you mean _Nevada_, Xander," Dawn corrected. She scoffed, making a mental note to bring a map of the United States to their next meeting for his perusal.

Xander rolled his eyes, "Not all of us are bookworms."

"Then why are they all heading to L.A.?" Anya asked, looking up from her money. Ignoring the questioning looks from the humans around her, she turned her attention to counting the money for the third time.

"Think you can do a locator spell, Will?" Buffy asked the redhead.

"In my sleep."

It took them a few minutes to round up all the necessary materials for the locator spell, but soon they were all seated on the floor, watching Willow do her witchy thing. Buffy sat on the floor in front of her best friend. An indescribable feeling, somewhere between dread and excitement settled deeply in the pit of her stomach. Willow began chanting in German. The air around her began whirring, whipping into all their faces. Her eyes shot open, turning white as the vision appeared before her eyes.

_A tall building in the middle of Los Angeles with the word Rossum tastefully displayed in the top right corner. Willow feels her spirit moving toward the building, down a tunnel and through a complex series of doors and hallways. Guards and card keys punctuated every turn; men and women in suits walked purposefully in different directions. Her spirit flew down an elevator shaft and emerged into a strange spa, where dozens of individuals wearing strangely blank expressions engaged in various activities. Her spirit zoomed closer, stopping right next to a table where three people were eating dinner. There, Faith sat, eating green beans with a strangely vacant smile. _

Willow's eyes slowly faded back to their normal green. The air stilled. Buffy looked at the slightly-disoriented Willow expectantly.

"She's in L.A. At a high-security spa?" Willow said uncertainly. She relayed to the gang all that she saw, reserving the whole vacant-Faith part for later. Something told her that it was something to keep from Buffy for the time being, or the blonde slayer might do something rash. Concerning Faith, Buffy always acted a little bit un-Buffy.

"I think it's time to call Angel," Buffy said through gritted teeth.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, readers! I think you all are beautiful. **

The Scooby Gang all stared unwelcomingly at Angel as he walked through the door of Giles' apartment. They were all seated on any surface that would take them, not leaving much room for the large vampire. His eyes settled painfully on Buffy, who offered him the loveseat she was ensconced in. He demurred, preferring to stand in a corner.

"What do you know about Faith?" Buffy asked, breaking the oppressive silence that had settled down upon the group. The vampire shifted, clearly uneasy about divulging whatever information he held.

"I went to go visit Faith the first day she was locked up. She was happy—excited, almost. She told me a woman had visited her and presented her with an alternative to jail: she could instead sign away five years of her life. She wouldn't remember any of it. They would also erase any memory she had of killing Allan Finch," he paused, letting his words sink in.

"She said she told the woman she would think about it. I could tell she was leaning toward it and I begged her not to sign her life away like that. At that time I hadn't really heard of Rossum, so I wasn't aware of what she would be getting herself into. I left, telling her not to make any decision before I did some recon. I came back the next day and she was gone."

The room was quiet again. Giles pulled off his glasses and began polishing them. Xander was studying the map Dawn had so thoughtfully furnished him with. Buffy curled her legs underneath herself in the loveseat and stared thoughtfully at a speck on the carpet. Willow shifted nervously in her seat on the couch.

Unable to handle the silence any longer she said, "So…Faith signed five years of her life away to some mysterious lady who showed up at jail?"

"Yes. She's been taken to some sort of high-tech brothel, where rich people and governments hire her out to fulfill their fantasies or do their dirty work. I think they did something to her. She isn't normal. She's…empty."

Finally, Buffy stood up angrily. "And you didn't tell us this WHY, Angel?" She looked him in the eye for the first time since he arrived. She stood, arms crossed, glaring at him defiantly and waiting for an answer.

"You didn't call her or try to visit her. I didn't think you cared," Angel said softly.

Angel had immediately taken to the younger slayer, who had a darkness about her that he could easily relate to. After Allen, he could tell Faith was at a dangerous crossroads. He felt compelled to do everything he could to set her down the good path. He convinced her to turn herself in, and then visited her every day as she went through the lengthy process of trial and conviction. Throughout that, they had formed an unlikely friendship. And for two years now he had been trying to break her out of that Rossum place.

Buffy ran a frustrated hand through her hair. How could she have been such an awful friend? Sure, Faith had been on her mind plenty the last two years. Every day, in fact. But the thought had never even crossed her mind to _visit_ the girl. It made her heart ache.

"Willow?" Buffy asked, turning to her best friend. "Can you do a summoning spell?" The redhead nodded vigorously. "Good," she said, looking at the vampire standing in the corner. "Angel, you are welcome to stay or to go. Just don't tell me I can't do this."

The dark-haired vampire looked conflicted, but kept his mouth shut. Buffy would just have to see for herself the shell that was now Faith. They cleared a space for Willow and gathered the appropriate supplies. When everything was prepared, Buffy turned to her friends.

"Do you guys mind? I think she might be a bit overwhelmed if we're all here."

Xander, Anya, Dawn, Giles and Angel all shuffled huffily out the door.

"Kicked out of my own apartment…" Giles muttered, grabbing a book to pass the time.

With the door closed and the small apartment empty, Buffy and Willow sat down facing each other. With a nod from Buffy, Willow began the encantation.

_"DEA PRO MIHI, AUDITE MEUS DICO._

_PATEFACIO PRODIGIUM PRO NOS TOTUS."_

Willow rose in the air as different colors of light surrounded her. The lights grew in strength and brilliance, reaching an apex before spitting out a certain brunette. She landed on the carpet with a loud thud that knocked the wind out of her. Buffy took note of Faith's uncharacteristically light clothing as she lay splayed out on the carpet. A light tank top and yoga pants were simply not in true Faith style. Maybe she had changed?

Slowly, Faith pushed herself to her feet, observing her new surroundings with a look of mild concern. "This is not the Dollhouse," she said softly.

"No, Faith. This is Giles' apartment. You remember Giles, right?" Willow asked Faith gently, quickly picking up that this being was not their old rough-and-tumble Faith.

"Giles? No." Her gaze settled on Buffy, who had gone completely white at this point. Her head cocked to the side a little as she scrutinized the pale blonde. There was something there…

"My blood runs quicker when I see you. Who are you?" Faith asked her, eyebrows furrowing in concentration as she tried to remember something—anything—about the girl in front of her.

"I'm Buffy. We used to…work together," Buffy said, trying to fight the tears that threatened to fall. She wanted so badly to reach out and touch the brunette in front of her, but felt almost as if a touch would shatter the fragile illusion.

"Were we friends?"

Though it was asked in innocence, Buffy couldn't stem the torrent of feelings that burst through her carefully fashioned dams. Anger, hurt, regret, loss…they slammed against her and made her feel sick to her stomach. She wrapped her arms around her middle, trying desperately to hold everything in but failing miserably as a loud sob racked through her frame. The tears came in hot pursuit, falling ungracefully down her cheeks as her face contorted with grief.

She felt a cool hand press itself to her shoulder. Faith was kneeling in front of her, looking sadly into her eyes. "I am sorry."

Again the words were so innocent, they only made Buffy cry more. The apology Buffy so desperately had needed to hear had come from a Faith-husk. The usual passion, defiance, swarthiness and lust were all gone. It was Faith stripped bare, and Buffy had not prepared herself for anything like this.

She got up suddenly, leaving the room with a swiftness surprised Willow but left Faith completely expressionless.

"Faith?" Willow asked timidly.

The girl turned around, looking at Willow curiously. "Why do you call me Faith? Everyone else calls me Echo or one of my imprinted names. I have never been imprinted with a Faith."

"Imprinted?" Willow was completely confused. What sort of thing did they do at this Dollhouse?

Faith took a deep breath. "They wipe our brains clear and install hardware into them. They can then download different personalities into our brains and send us on engagements that people hire us for."

Willow found herself completely floored. There was technology for this sort of thing? It was fascinating.

"Do you remember anything about your past?" Willow asked.

"Nothing. I already know more than I should. My brain somehow is able to hold on to all the personalities they put in me. Right now, there are about forty in my head."

"But no Faith?"

"No. Was I Faith before I was Echo?"

Willow looked at Faith sadly. "Yes. You were Faith."

Echo's eyes brightened a little, glad to have found some semblance of the past that was so blank to her. They quickly fell flat. She was so much more than Faith now, whoever Faith was. And she could never go back to being just Faith ever again.


End file.
